Why Tua Might Be Playing the Best Football of His Career

Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa has elevated his game since returning from his concussion

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) celebrates a touchdown by running back De'Von Achane (28) against the Las Vegas Raiders in the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

To no one's surprise, the Miami Dolphins offense has come to life with Tua Tagovailoa back at quarterback.

And while his passing numbers still aren't up to their 2023 levels, it says here that Tagovailoa actually is playing the best football of his career.

Tagovailoa doesn't have a 300-yard passing performance since he's returned from his Week 2 concussion after having five such games in 2023 plus another in the 2024 season opener and the big play pretty much has disappeared from the offense, the 57-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jonnu Smith in the 34-19 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders off a busted coverage Sunday notwithstanding.

But this isn't about numbers, whether they be Tua's passing yardage or his passer rating because sometimes those don't tell the whole story — for example, he had a lot of nice throws against the Raiders, but the one that got him the most juice for his passer rating was the one to Smith that wasn't particularly impressive but didn't need to be because the tight end was so wide open.

The gaudy completion percentage also can be misleading to a certain degree because the Dolphins still use an awful lot of short passes, which clearly are easier to complete.a

What Tagovailoa is doing as well as ever is delivering on third down, which has helped the Dolphins convert at a ridiculous 60.4 percent clip in the past four games. For comparison purposes, the Kansas City Chiefs lead the NFL in that category for the season — at 51.9 percent.

Beyond that, what Tagovailoa is doing better over the past month than probably any time in his NFL career is making plays off schedule.

The latest example came against the Raiders when he moved around in the pocket to buy himself some extra time and found Tyreek Hill moving across the field just inside the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown — on third down.

An earlier example against the Raiders was the 24-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle on a similar type of play. There was another long one to Waddle against the Los Angeles Rams in the Monday night victory.

Another week, another game where Tua uses his legs to extend the play and make throws on the move. This is potentially starting to become a significant development for him. pic.twitter.com/MGdvtoZwQH

— FinsCentral (@finscentral) November 18, 2024

This probably shouldn't be too surprising that Tagovailoa is able to make more plays on the move because the lost weight clearly has made him more mobile and able to escape from the pocket.

Adding that to his usual accuracy when he can set his feet in the pocket has added a dimension to his game.

Sure, it would be nice if the Dolphins could play bombs away at times, like they did a lot in 2023, but defenses are guarding against that more than ever and Tagovailoa is more content now to check down and not force the issue.

"He’s taken a gigantic step in his game," head coach Mike McDaniel said after the game against the Raiders. "He’s got control of the emotional piece of the football game and isn’t trying to force things unnecessarily, isn’t trying to make plays when they’re not there, but also finding ways to extend plays and making more plays than maybe the play that I gave him enabled them to do. So a lot of work, and I think the good news is although we haven’t gotten a 30-point offensive output all season, that’s been kind of the standard and expectation of the guys and they’ve been unrelenting in that expectation standard for themselves.

"So I think today, we got to tap into all that work and I don’t see our crew really taking the foot off the gas just because there’s a lot to prove each and every week. It was fun to get our first consecutive win of the season but we’ll have another tough journey next week and the week after that as that continues. I like where we’re at. We have a lot left to do."

THE NEXT STEP FOR TUA AND THE OFFENSE

To be clear, Tagovailoa hasn't been perfect since his return, though he's been very good.

The things he has to clean up including not holding the ball too long in the pocket and taking unnecessary sacks — it happened against the Rams and the Raiders. And then there's the obvious of not trying to deliver hits if he throws a pick.

But overall Tagovailoa has been pretty darn good since he's returned, even though it didn't result in victories in his first two games back against the Arizona Cardinals and Buffalo Bills.

But his return and performance have given reason to think the Dolphins could make a playoff push in the second half of the season.

For that to happen, he and the offense will have to produce against better defenses (at least statistically) than they've faced so far.

The Raiders currently are ranked 15th in the NFL in total defense, and that's the highest-ranked group the Dolphins have faced in their past four games.

Of their final seven games, four will come against defenses ranked in the top seven, including two against the New York Jets. And the Dolphins will be on the road against the Houston Texans (third-ranked defense), the Jets in the season finale, and the Green Bay Packers (12th-ranked defense).

Those games against Green Bay and Houston are the ones that have proven problematic for the Dolphins in the past couple of years, but maybe this is the year where things are different — particularly if Tagovailoa continues his strong play.